Support a Culture of Risk Takers

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Last week, we shared the work of Carol Dweck from Stanford University as she talked of children that possess a “growth” mindset outperforming children with a “fixed” mindset.  The children in the study who were praised for their effort were more likely to persist in the face of a challenge than the children who were praised for their intelligence.  In today’s society our children face pressures of testing, grades, class ranks, college entrance exams, and the list goes on and on.  How does all of the stress of being the best affect our children’s self esteem and what can we do to help them realize that hard work and persistence pays off even when we make mistakes?

Making a mistake is a serious risk that some children are not willing to take, but we can create a learning environment that supports and rewards taking risks.  I recently came across an excerpt from an essay written by Kristi Johnson Smith titled, “Creating a safe space for students to take academic risks.”  She talks about the importance of building strong relationships with your students by showing them you are invested in their future, and incredible things will happen. Once those relationships are formed this creates a classroom that encourages risk taking.

Kristi Johnson Smith’s method consists of 3 steps:

1.) Risk Taking - Be willing to stand in front of your students to demonstrate something that you’re good at. For example, dribbling a basketball. Then explain the next level of competence will never be reached without pushing yourself to the point of making mistakes.  Communicate to the children that making mistakes is an opportunity to learn.  Smith writes, “I will be better tomorrow because I was willing to to take risks in the classroom today.”

2.) Be Willing to Fail - Be willing to try something that you are terrible at.  Your students will celebrate your willingness to try. The author talks about the experience of playing a guitar and singing in front of the class. This experience was absolutely awful and humiliating, but her students loved it and saw a side of her that was willing to fail.  She would pull her guitar out at times, when children would express fear of giving presentations, to remind them that everyone must be willing to try.

3.) Build Risk Taking into your Classroom Management - Develop a system that rewards students who are willing to try and support one another during risk taking opportunities, and also provide consequences to those students who ridicule and try to break the classroom risk taking culture.  

Feel free to read the complete essay excerpt from Kristi Johnson Smith.

Developing a classroom culture that supports risk taking is not an easy task. It requires a whole class commitment and constant nurturing.  Check out this short video from the Teaching Channel of Jen Saul a 3rd grade teacher at Aspire East Palo Alto Charter School in East Palo Alto, CA.  She discusses how she creates and nurtures a safe and inclusive classroom environment in her classroom.